


Juno Regina

by gaiyok



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Allusions to Violence, Canonical Character Death, Dialogue, M/M, semi-canon character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 18:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10905078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaiyok/pseuds/gaiyok
Summary: "Juno wasn't always his name you know"





	Juno Regina

"Okay lie down. No not on my...whatever. Okay. Alright. So... you sure you want me to tell you this story? It's really not as interesting as you seem to think it's gonna be"

"Juno, my love, no amount of stalling if going to un-peak my interest. What did Ms. Wire mean when she said that 'Juno' isn't your real name?"

"Of course it's my goddamn name, I've got it in the system and everything. Sasha was exaggerating. Again."

"I think you and I both know how easy getting a name into the central registration system is darling."

"Yeah. Yeah I guess you're right. I actually wouldn't know though."

"Juno... if you really don't want to talk about this I won't make you. We can always enjoy a more, athletic, pursuit instead if you like?"

"Tempting, but no. No. I'll tell you. It's not that. Just, I've never had to tell anyone before y'know? People either just knew or they didn't."

"We'll take all the time you need. Your lap makes a particularly comfortable headrest and I'm not keen on moving anytime soon."

"Okay. I guess it all started when we moved to Oldtown"

"Wait, you moved to Oldtown? From where? You always made it seem like you were born and bred in that horrible place."

"Shhh! All the time I need remember? And yeah we did; Me, my Ma, and my brother Ben."

"Your brother. The one your mother...?"

"...yeah. We'll get to that"

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Just shut up so I can get this told will you?"

"..."

"Seriously?"

"..."

"Fine. So yeah, we moved to Oldtown when I was something like five or six. Ben was two years younger than me; but it felt like more. 

Ma tried at first, at least I think she did, but Oldtown has a way of getting into your bones and hollowing you out if you're not careful.

I ended up raising Ben by myself not long after the move either way. 

He was such a good kid. Never complained when I burned the food because I couldn't see the top of the stove properly. Never cried when Ma spent the bill money on uppers and we had to sleep together inside a pile of ratty blankets in three layers of clothes during winter. 

Always had a smile and looked at me like the sun shone out my ass or something.

Just, he was such a good kid. Smart too, properly smart. I had some half baked idea that I would hide as much money as I could and enroll him in one of those classy schools in Halcyon when he got older. Make sure he got out of Oldtown early before it could get its hooks into him."

"He sounds lovely"

"He was. Everybody loved him; even in Oldtown. By the time he was six he was reading Ma's old textbooks that she'd dragged with us everywhere we moved. I think she kept them as some sort of reminder, it probably would have been better for her if she had tossed 'em. Or hell, sold them maybe to feed her damn kids.

Whatever.

She didn't like that Ben was so smart, too similar to her maybe. First time she caught him with one of those stupid books she kicked him so hard he knocked a hole in the wall. I don't know how he didn't end up with anything worse than bruised ribs, I really don't.

I should have taken him away then, I should have left with him before she could hurt him again, but I was eight and he was six. I didn't have anywhere to take him, didn't have any way to make enough money to support us. 

And I was still clinging to that stupid dream that I was gonna get Ben outta Oldtown. 

So I hid the stupid books in our room and made sure Ma didn't have the opportunity to look at Ben for too long. Used to lock him in our room with some food and juice if I couldn't take him with me for some reason. 

He didn't like that. Didn't understand that I wasn't goin' out to play without him, I was trying to scrape together some cash for food and bills and Ben's school fund. 

You know I saved almost four thousand creds in four years? I worked every under the table job I could find. I even bribed a bank teller to open an account under my name to put the funds into. Make sure Ma couldn't steal them like she did the cash I used to keep in our mattress for bills. "

"That's incredible Darling, but what jobs did you work as a six to ten year old that allowed you to make that kind of cash?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"But-"

"I don't wanna talk about it okay!? I did what I did and now I don't. That's it."

"Okay"

"Good. You gonna let me finish now?"

"Yes of course"

"So, fast forward a couple years. I've just turned eleven, Ben is turning nine. I've finally got enough saved to get him into a good school uptown. 

I've gotta leave early to work that day, told Ben I would be back later to take him to see the new school. 

He was so fucking excited. 

I didn't know he'd left the goddamn brochure I gave him at the breakfast table. I'd had to get him up with me at four to get him fed before I left. 

That fucking brochure.

I came back at six that night. It was way later than I'd said I'd be out. I felt so bad that Ben had been left alone for so long. But we needed the cash I figured. 

I came home-

God. 

I came home and-"

"Shhh. Shhh Juno please you don't have to do this. Just forget I asked okay. Please stop crying-"

"I'M NOT FUCKING CRYING OKAY! I'm not, fucking, shut up. Just. Let me finish"

"...okay"

" I came home. I came home and the apartment was... clean. Just so clean.

No pill bottles on the ground, no empty glasses or plates. Hell I think even the rug had been cleaned.

I thought it wasn't my house for a minute. 

Then I saw Ma. 

She was sitting on the couch. All cleaned up and dressed nice. It was weird. 

Ben was- 

I thought Ben was asleep on the armchair. She'd wrapped him in a blanket and it just looked like he'd fallen asleep reading. He had a textbook on his lap. 

I didn't know what to think? I guess a part of me hoped maybe she's had some sort of crazy epiphany? That she'd seen the state we were in and decided to put us first for once. Be a proper mom.

I think you can guess I was wrong though. 

She was smiling at me when I walked up to them. But it was the kind of smile you see on someone's face before they push you out a window you know? Just relishing the anticipation of your screams. 

She gave me this envelope. 

Here you wanna see? No here, yeah it's not gonna bite I swear. 

She gave me the envelope and told me to open it. I was so confused when I saw what was inside. Asked her if it was some sorta joke, why the fuck did she change my name? 

I thought maybe she was in some sort of trouble. Maybe we were all changing our names and going into hiding or something. 

She just kind of - chuckled - at me. The kind of laugh that makes you feel two feet tall and dumb as a rock. 

She told me she never actually submitted the paperwork to name me in the system. Said she figured today was a good day for new beginnings. 

I asked her why she didn't register my real name.

You know what she said?

'Do you know the story of the goddess Juno? Queen of an ancient earth pantheon. Clever, powerful, beautiful; but she had an unfortunate habit of killing her children'

I asked what that had to do with me. 

But I think by that point I had already started to put the pieces together. 

I forgot to lock the door y'see. 

Locked it every goddamn morning for four years but I forgot that morning. 

And she found the brochure."

"Ben wasn't sleeping." 

"No.

She wrapped him that tight so I couldn't see the way his neck bent the wrong way. 

Not at first

Yeah. Juno had an unfortunate habit of killing her kids. And now so did I.

So I kept the fucking name and used the money to have Ben buried in Halcyon.

That big graveyard on the hill, you know the one? With the flowers and the trees and the fucking lake. 

Yeah. The stone shaped like a bird. 

I kept the name. It's the only one I have okay? 

It's the best gift that bitch ever gave me

Reminds me to hold onto the people I love. Fight for them. Protect yo- them"

"In some histories Juno was the goddess of mothers and children you know."

"What? I pour my fucking heart out to you and you're fact checking me?"

"No! No Juno, please, come lay down, don't get up, I didn't mean it like that."

"... fine. Then what did you mean it by?"

"Just that Juno was also a protector once. A mother, a nurturer, a protector, even a warrior in some places 

Just, don't let her violence be the only thing that defines you"

"A warrior and a mother huh? I guess you learn new things every day"

"You certainly do. Now I suggest we study the benefits of afternoon naps on emotionally drained detectives. What do you think?"

"C'mere"

FIN


End file.
